


Omen of the Times

by brodylover



Series: Spear of Destiny [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Demons, Dragons, Fights, Hurt, Poison, Whump, crazy cas, season 7
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-25
Updated: 2012-11-25
Packaged: 2017-11-19 07:59:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/570988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brodylover/pseuds/brodylover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My very first fic which I wrote before watching season 7. Cas is insane and the boys have found the Spear of Destiny, which the demons want really badly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Every Rose Has It's Thorn 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> part one of my Spear of Destiny Series. The boys and a crazy angel head to a bar in the middle of nowhere, having been tipped off that that was where the spear was being kept. The spear has a bit of a trap on it though.

Sam was lying down in the backseat of the Impala, ignoring the fact that there was already someone sitting there. It was far too small for the man and one of his legs was bent, keeping Castiel's legs tightly in their place as his other foot hung out the window. He snored softly, turning his head in his sleep to keep the long brown hair from creeping into his mouth.   
For once, the radio was turned off and Dean kept his eyes on the road, giving his little brother some time to sleep. Ever since they had first heard of the Spear being on earth, Sam had slept little, spending all of his time researching it and trying to plan out ways to get it back. This was probably the first time he had slept properly in weeks.  
Castiel looked out the window and thought. There were so many things he wanted to say, so many things pushing through his mind to get out into the open, like 'how do birds fly', 'who killed all of the sea monsters', and his desires to climb a mountain. None of these thoughts made any sense to him and they would wake Sam up, so he stayed quiet. He had so many thoughts and he didn't know where they stemmed from. He could tell what he wanted to say from the garbage that was running through his head anymore.   
They called it insanity and he knew that it was an accurate term. He just wanted to get through it, it felt like it should be so easy, just a cobweb on his brain.  
His fingers ran over a small green man that had been wedged into the car's ashtray. He could remove it quite easily if his mind was right, but with it acting as it was he didn't think his powers would work correctly. So he sighed and tried to sleep himself, although it was an odd thing for him to do. Angels never slept, but now he wasn't so sure about whether or not he was an angel.  
Dean looked up, checking on his two wards in the back seat. Cas could have sat in the front with him, but he was so used to the back that he went their instinctively. It was a good thing, too. Dean didn't know how to act around the angel, not anymore. At one point they were friends, Dean had considered the angel to be his brother, but that was before he turned against them, became God and released the Leviathans.   
Dean prayed that the spear was what they were looking for. The Spear of Destiny had cut into the side of Christ and because of that encounter it had its own magical qualities. It could kill anything, any angel, demon, shape shifter, maybe even Leviathan. It had better work against the Leviathans, nothing else they had found worked.   
Without knowing why he started to hum 'Working Man' by Rush. He hated the almost silence, the only sounds coming from the road beneath their tires and Sam's occasional snoring.   
He felt bad about bringing both of them; he could have done this himself. Sam was exhausted, having questioned every demon they could find and researching everything having to do with the spear. He wasn't going to be a whole lot of help in a fight unless his adrenaline kicked in. Then there was Cas, who hadn't come to help them at all. He didn't want to fight, the little soldier had tasted a different kind of life and now that was all he wanted. They'd only gotten him into the car by promising to take him to an insect zoo on the way back. He'd fallen in love with insects, much to Dean's surprise. He'd thought that angels viewed people as insects.   
He was defenseless, the tiny warrior with a broken mind. Dean hoped that Cas's sanity would return at the last minute, but he highly doubted it. He'd spend most of the upcoming fight making sure the angel was alright.   
After a couple of hours of driving, the entirety of the old Rush discography having been hummed by the hunter, they finally made it to the bar. Meg had tipped them off and her intelligence had only been made certain by all of the other demons that they had 'asked'.  
He pulled into the parking lot and hopped out of the black car, heading to the arsenal in the back. The lack of movement woke Sam up but Cas kept lying there, too still to really be sleeping. He didn't need to sleep, but he seemed to want to, so he would pretend in order to be more human. The giant hunter shook him and they both crawled out of the back seat.  
By the time they joined Dean he was already splitting up their weapons. Cas didn't want to fight, so Dean handed him the easiest of the tools to work with, a large bag of rock salt, some spray paint, and a flask of holy water. A few short but concise instructions and the little angel was off running, his overcoat billowing behind him in the breeze. Sam took a larger flask of holy water, a rifle loaded with rock salt, a pistol with the same, and enough bullets for the two, not to mention a heavy canvas bag for the spear. Dean took the knife and a spritzing bottle, spraying both himself and Sam in a combination of salt and holy water. He'd been grabbed by demons enough times to know that keeping them off would be a good thing.   
They nodded to one another and headed towards the bar. Cas had spray painted a devils trap just in front of the door, the gravel turned red. It wasn't very stable, so the boys tried not to disturb it as they crossed the threshold. Dean checked and could see that the angel had already blocked off some of the windows with rock salt, making it harder for the demons to get out with the spear. As long as Cas didn't get distracted by a spider or something they should be alright.  
One last nod to Sam and Dean kicked the door to the bar in. Everyone inside, twenty in all, turned, staring at the two intruders. All of them were demons, Dean was sure.   
"Alright!" he shouted, waving his knife in the air, "I have an offer for you! You are all trapped in here; we've got salt surrounding the whole bar. We want the Spear of Destiny. We'll let you out if you give it to us. If you don't want to give it to us, that's fine, we'll just kill all of you."  
He thought that the demons would laugh at him, their faces all ready too. Fine, whatever. Demons had a history of being cocky. Instead they stopped, turning, as a rough scream came from outside.  
Sam, his mouth open and eyes wide, turned, his eyes going from Dean to the direction of the scream, which had switched to the sound of a fight, a body being thrown up against the wall before there were more shouts. Dean nodded and he ran.  
Twenty demons against one hunter. That would sure be fun. For the first time since learning the truth about Sam's powers, he wished he'd had them again. This whole mess would be so much easier to clean up. If Cas was all there, that would have cleaned it all up too.  
\--------  
Castiel gritted his teeth, reaching for the bald headed demon who was pressing him up against the wall. If he could just touch his head, he could burn the demonic soul right out of the body; surely, he could still do that. The demon was too large though, he couldn't reach. He punched the angel in the face again, mashing his nose against his face before throwing him to the ground with enough force to knock the wind out of him.  
Then the demon started screaming, steam rising from his bald head. He clawed at the holy water that Sam had splashed onto him as the tall hunter rushed past him, grabbing Castiel by the arm and helping him back to his feet.  
He was going to lock Cas in the impala and run a circle of salt around it, but the salt was on the ground, having been knocked out of the angel's hands when he was initially thrown against the wall.  
He had no choice then, he'd have to bring Cas into the bar with him.  
\-------  
17 demons and now they were a little bit uneasy about fighting the smaller of the two Winchesters. Three of them lay on the ground, not only dead, but with their meat suits bleeding and dead as well. Those remaining were huddled around the bar, making it obvious that that was where they were hiding the spear.   
"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica." He started and the demons clutched their throats, some of them falling to the ground as the black smoke began to rise.  
"Ergo draco maledicte et omnis legio diabolica adjuramus te. cessa decipere humanas creaturas, eisque aeternae Perditionis venenum propinare."  
The door opened behind him but he ignored it. It could only be Sam, but his heavy footsteps seemed slower. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing that Sam was folded over, lowering himself so that Cas's arm could be over his shoulders for support.  
"Vade, Satana, inventor et magister omnis fallaciae, hostis humanae salutis.Humiliare sub potenti manu Dei contremisce et effuge, invocato a nobis sancto et terribili nomine, quem inferi tremunt."  
The demons fled their vessels, their black smoke melting down into the ground and through it, heading down into Hell.  
Dean looked back, finally seeing the state that Cas was in. Blood was splattered over his face and his eyes were swelling shut from bruising. His mouth had also been split and he was having a hard time breathing, having been winded. It was strange; normally he would have healed himself by now.   
"What happened?" Dean asked.  
"There was another demon outside." Sam explained, "I didn't have time to take care of him, I just doused him in holy water."  
"Okay." Dean nodded before heading to the bar. That was fine; they'd take care of him on the way out.  
This was too easy, he knew that. It wasn't like them to have a day off. Something must have been planned. When though?  
Only one of the cabinets behind the bar was locked, so Dean righted that with a bobby pin and safety pin. Inside it was a large paper bag, which he hesitantly pulled out. There were no traps that he could see though, so he had to trust himself.   
He flipped the bag over in his hands and unfolded the top. There was the shine of metal and something else as well. What appeared to be a dragon, not like the dragons that they had encountered, but like those from books, looked out at him. Its body was gold and its head s like snakes, one coming from the front of the body and another from the tip of the tail.  
Cas shouted and let go of Sam, heading in Dean's direction, but he was far too late. The creature bit Dean's hand and he immediately dropped it and the Spear to the ground, just moments before hitting the ground himself.


	2. Every Rose Has It's Thorn 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Dean dying from a bite from an Amphisbaena, it's up to Cas and Sam to cure him.

Sam patted at Dean's forehead with a damp washcloth, trying to cool his fever and wipe the sweat from his brow. He was hardly moving, his breaths coming in short, sharp gasps. Sam had dumped his brother onto the motel bed as carefully as he could, knowing how movement would make the toxins travel faster, but he was sure that the poison had gone throughout his body by now. He turned to Cas, hoping the angel would have some idea on how to cure him, but the small angel was bent forward, looking into the small box with the little creature inside.  
"What is that thing?" Sam asked, pulling off his jacket. They had turned the heat up all the way, making the room into a bit of sauna to help Dean sweat out his fever.  
"Amphisbaena." Cas muttered, his voice thick and raspy.  
"Amphis…what?"  
"A creature with two snake heads. It's extremely venomous." Cas explained, "It has a lot of medicinal qualities to it as well."  
"Well, what can we do?" Sam asked, falling back onto the bed beside his brother. He couldn't help but remember when they were kids and he had the flu. Dad was off on a hunt, going after a vampire nest, and Dean was supposed to watch over Sam for the week. The whole time that Sam was sick, his older brother stayed awake, watching over him. He made chicken noodle soup, made sure Sam was warm enough, and called Bobby a few times, trying to figure out what to do.  
Now it was Sam's turn to take care of Dean and it scared him. What if Dean didn't make it?  
"Dean is strong." Cas roughly directed, "He'll be alright for a while. What he needs though is blood. He needs the bad stuff switched with the good."  
"Blood? That's great! We can just get him to a hospital and they-" he trailed off, seeing Cas stare at him. Of course they couldn't take Dean to a hospital. The doctors had never seen anything like this before, they'd probably experiment on him to figure out what had bitten him or not be able to do anything.   
Sam's blood wasn't altogether human, so he couldn't give Dean his own blood, even if they had shared the same blood type.   
Cas stood up, fingering the belt of his overcoat and slowly walked toward the two hunters, grabbing a knife from the table on his way. He stood at Dean's side, holding the knife as if he was really focusing on it, not sure if it were really there. Then he slit his wrist, the blood bubbling from it. Sam's eyes went wide but he said nothing. Broken or not, Cas was still an angel, he may still have had some idea as to what he was doing.  
After that he sliced into Dean's arm, avoiding all of the important arteries and veins he had cut on himself. He pressed his heavily leaking wound up against the hunters, forcing his blood into Dean's arm, just inches away from where he had been bitten.  
Dean convulsed as his toxic blood met the holy and gasped for breath. Cas glared at Sam and didn't have to tell him to hold the hunter down, Sam just did it, grabbing his brother by the shoulders and pressing him into the mattress. Eventually he stopped seizing and Cas took his arm away, blood smeared all over its underside.   
He held it out to Sam, who bandaged it quietly, stopping the bleeding. His face was almost completely healed, but it had taken half an hour, not the instant healing that they were all used to.   
Sam turned back to his brother, trying to see if Cas's blood had had any effect. At first it seemed like there hadn't been any but on closer inspection he noticed the venom dripping from the two puncture marks in Dean's wrist.  
"Good." Cas said, "I wasn't sure if that would work."  
Dean coughed and rose up, trying to get more comfortable on the motel bed. He was woozy and tired, still ill from the bite, even with Cas's blood in his system.  
"What happened?" he asked, leaning his head back on the headboard.  
Cas filled him in as best he could, side tracking into abstraction a few times, while Sam went to the kitchen for some water. Dean would need it. When he'd been sick Dean always made sure he was properly hydrated.   
When he returned Dean had fallen back asleep. Cas sat beside him, staring in that unblinking way.   
He didn't turn when Sam joined him, "He's still going to die, I just slowed the process down. There's a spell you can do, that will cure him."  
"What is it?" Sam asked, setting the water down on the bedside table.  
"I don't know." The angel gruffly admitted.  
Sam sighed and pulled out his laptop. The mousepad was sticky and the paint on the buttons was wearing off, making it hard to figure out which keys were which. He started on his research trying to find anything he could on the two headed creature they had locked in a shoebox.   
After a few hours Dean was back to his feverish state, tossing and turning. Cas had the knife again and was about to cut again into his wrist, giving his blood to save the hunter once again, but Sam shouted with victory.   
Cas looked over his shoulder, seeing the spell that Sam was looking at.   
"Yes." Cas agreed, "That should work."  
Sam got what they had from the Impala, the salt, sage, bowl, lighter fluid, and lighter. He left Cas to deal with the Amphisbaena and headed to a grocery outlet for everything else.   
When he got back with the mint and rooibos, Cas was sitting on the floor, the creature curled up in his lap. It seemed to be sleeping and Cas kept stroking it, his fingers going from one head to another. The spell called for the blood of a resting Amphisbaena and Sam couldn't think of one being more relaxed and rested at that.  
When Cas saw Sam walk in he stood, cradling the sleeping creature in his arms and took it to the bowl. Talking the knife in one hand he quietly slipped the blade through one neck and then the other, letting its black blood drip into the other ingredients. It was so fast that the creature didn't even have time to struggle.   
Sam mixed the ingredients together, spoke the spell, a combination of Latin and Olde English, and poured in the lighter fluid. He didn't light it until it was just under Dean's nose and as he breathed in the smoke the color returned to his cheeks and the fever faded. Soon his eyes were open and he was back to his old self.


	3. Omen of the Times 1

There were demons everywhere. There were always demons everywhere but this time they weren't spread out all over the globe, there were ten of them roaming the halls of the abandoned four story house. Meg had dragged Cas down into the basement and then into a closet that had been empty to everyone but the spiders for the last decade. She sat beside him, holding his hand in hers and shushing him every time she thought he would make a noise. He was fine with this. His electric blue eyes would travel around the tiny room, following the venomous arachnids as they rebuilt their webs.

'Those damn Winchesters' Meg thought to herself. She didn't know how, but she knew that it was their fault that the demons had found the place. They should have been there but they were out on one of their precious hunts. Now they had a pacifist angel and a renegade demon hiding in a closet.

Meg knew what she had to do. She didn't like it, but there was nothing else. She couldn't just sit there and hope that the demons would leave the small closet unsearched. She could hear them, she knew that there were too many for her to handle. She didn't even have the knife any more. All she could hope to do was buy them time until the hunters returned.

She released Cas's hand, much to his surprise, but he was good and stayed quiet. She kissed his brow, the light sweat meeting her lips and smiled at him, maybe for the last time.

Then she was gone.

Cas sat there all alone. He'd been told not to leave and not to make a noise. He was disappointing everyone and that made him feel sick. He was powerful enough to kill every demon there but he couldn't quite put his finger on the how. It used to be easy. He still had the power, and the knowledge was there, hidden away in his mind, but all he could think of were some dangerous distractions.

He tried a few and he could hear the surprised screams of the possessed upstairs. The house itself creaked and groaned, his attempts ripping it apart. He stopped. He knew Meg would be unhappy if the house caved in on itself and crushed everyone. He didn't like it when people were unhappy.

So he sat and he listened to the fighting upstairs. It seemed to go on for a long time but eventually it quieted down. Meg didn't come back down to get him though so she must have been killed or knocked out or something, Cas couldn't tell. He wanted to just vanish, like he had in the old days, but that was something else that hadn't come back to him.

The sounds of violence returned and Cas looked up, trying to see what was going on upstairs, but there were walls and floors in the way. Maybe Meg had gotten her second wind, but Cas was putting his money on the Winchester boys once again. They were good boys, even with their flaws. They were good to him. He liked them.

The closet was starting to feel too small; he wanted all of this to be done with so that he could leave.

The door opened and the bright light of the fluorescent bulbs in the basement poured into the dark closet. A man stood in the doorway, horribly tall and a bit thick, very muscular.

"Sam." Cas whispered. He had been told to keep quiet.

"Yeah." Sam replied, his eyebrows raised in that troubled way that Cas was so accustomed too, "Come on, let's get you out of here."

He helped Cas to his feet and took him by the arm. Cas wanted to straighten out his overcoat, but there was obviously no time for that as Sam led him up the stairs at such a speed he was in danger of tripping. They traveled through the house at much the same speed, Cas having to jog every once in a while to keep up with Sam's long strides. The Winchester did not look happy, but it was rare that he did, and there was demon blood sprayed on his clothes and face.

"Sam." Cas whispered again, but it was too late. There were two demons running towards them, one holding a large hammer.

Sam turned, the knife in his hand, blade coagulating along its blade. The one with the hammer was upon his and he swung wildly. Sam did what he could, letting go of Cas and yelling at him to run as he dodged and thrust the small knife. Cas did not leave, but watch in fascination as the demon smacked Sam in the temple, dropping him to the ground with one hit. Cas had no choice, the other demon had grabbed him, holding him in a full nelson.

There were so many things he could have done, but all of them would have destroyed the house and Sam was not the kind of person who could survive four stories of house hitting him in the head.

As he was, Cas could tell he was breathing, but he was unconscious. There was a steady stream of blood coming from his wound, which was immediately swelling and bruising. Cas could heal it no problem, but he couldn't even touch the boy, his shoulders secure in the arms of a possessed woman.

The demon with the hammer smiled at Cas, licking Sam's strange blood off of it, "Now then." He hissed, "Are you going to come quietly? Or are we going to have to have some fun with you first?"

"I have to heal Sam." He told them, which did not seem to be the answer that they wanted.

He slammed the hammer into Cas's cheek and he could hear the bone there break and those in his neck pop from the momentum of his head moving. Somewhere inside was a scream of agony, but Cas had gotten used to the sounds of the poor man inside of him and had learned to ignore it.

It didn't hurt too badly but the demon's black eyes were sparkling and it was clear that he was prepared to do much worse, would have loved to do much worse.

Cas lowered his head, obeying them. He didn't like conflict. Anyway, there was another Winchester out there.

They took him, one arm each and dragged him outside. There was a white van with all of its windows painted over on one side of the dirt road across from the shining black impala. There was no one inside. Cas looked around, but didn't see Dean anywhere. He hoped that he was alright, there had been so much commotion inside of the house, and it wouldn't be surprising if he had lost to one of the demons.

The two that had Cas were laughing to one another, joking about some torture or other they were hoping to perform on the broken angel. Their superior would be quite pleased and they would somehow break him into being sane enough to know the answers to give them. Cas doubted it.

They stopped moving and, surprised, dropped Cas to the ground. He looked around, and confused as to what was happening as they were.

"Aw shit!" the demon with the hammer proclaimed, looking at the devils trap that had been carved into the dirt beneath them. It wasn't a very good one, the lines could be obscured by the wind, but there didn't seem to be a freeing breeze.

"Cas!" came a familiar gruff voice.

He stood up, brushed himself off, and gingerly stepped out of the devil's trap, leaving the demons inside. Dean ran out from his hiding place behind the Impala.

"Dean." Cas said, "Sam's still inside. He's injured, but I can take care of it."

"Then do." Dean ordered. There was a thick book in his hand, the pages with exorcisms clearly marked.

Cas headed back inside as Dean started to read from the book.

Sam was an easy heal, just two fingers to his temple and the swelling disappeared, the blood receding back into the proper veins. The Winchester's eyes darted open and he stared up at Cas, his worry clear.

"Where's Dean?" he asked.

"Outside." Cas explained, "Exercising."

Sam nodded, "Good. Cas, look out!"

A spear rammed through Cas's chest, the momentum of it making his back arch in a way that if Jimmy had been in charge, would have had his screaming. Not a spear, the spear. Jimmy was still screaming, but it was so far away that it was like seagulls screaming at the ocean. The demons had found it, stashed carefully beneath the floorboards. They weren't just looking for the broken angel, but the spear of Christ as well. The demon behind him, a blood stained child, pulled the spear out and Cas fell to the side. 

He wasn't healing like he should, no matter how much he willed it, Jimmy's blood kept pouring through the hole in his body as well as a bit of white light. Cas clutched it, but pressure did nothing. The girl child held the spear to his throat and, much to Sam's dismay, dragged Cas back out the front door.

The woman was dead, but the man would be alright as he sat in the devils trap, sputtering in confusion and pain. Dean looked over, his expression the same as always, but his eyebrows were raised and his lips were a bit more tightly pursed as Cas was marched out.

The blood pouring down his front was slick and it stained his white hospital garb. It went down to his feet and the dirt road beyond, making it a dark mud. It got in the way and Cas tripped, nicking his throat on the spear head. He was on the ground, sputtering, clutching the wound in his side, ignoring the blood and light that was now coming from his neck.

He turned, looking up at the girl demon. Her disgust was plain on her borrowed face and she held the spear over her head, ready to bring it down on him. Not to kill him, certainly, her superiors wouldn't be happy with that, but to teach him a lesson of course. His blue eyes widened.

Dean slammed the butt of his gun into the back of her head, knocking her to the ground beside Cas. The demon would be fine, just angry, but the human eyes it was looking through were blurred and strange from the hit. Taking advantage of her short time on the ground, Dean grabbed her by the ankles and dragged her into the devils trap, right on top of the dead woman.

Ignoring the spear as it lay in the dirt, Dean ran to Cas's side, kneeling beside him, "What's going on?" he asked, "Why aren't you healing?"

Cas was starting to feel loose and there was darkness at the sides of his vision. It was a new feeling, bleeding out. He leaned his head on Dean's shoulder, "Can't." he explained to the best of his ability, "Spear can kill anything."

Dean stared at him, his mouth open. Cas didn't know if he was going to hit him or cry, that was the problem with Dean's face, it always looked like he was about to do one or the other, and Cas still hadn't figured out expressions very well.

Dean wrapped his arms around Cas and squeezed lightly. It felt good, to be embraced. Cas had never felt it before, even though he had longed for the experience. He had seen lovers embrace on bridges, parents hug their children, and old people clutch each other as they died in hospitals. He had seen all of this and he had never felt it. Dean's body was surprisingly warm against his.

"What do I do Cas?" Dean softly asked, although all of the screaming he had done in his life had made his voice constantly rough, "Tell me. I don't know what I can do for you."

Cas looked up at Dean, as he did, the Winchester's stubble scraped against his sweating brow. 'This must be how it feels' Cas thought, 'to be Sam; to be a brother and to be loved.'

Cas's skin had gone ashy and pale, the only color being the blood and the darkness around his bright blue eyes. Even that blue was fading away. He was having a hard to keeping his head up and the dark vignette in his eyes was encroaching on his vision horribly.

"The body is mortal." He tried to explain, but he doubted it made any sense. He couldn't clarify more though, as he fell into unconsciousness.


	4. Omen of the Times part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cas is wounded and the only thing that knows how to heal an angel is another angel. It gets more complicated when the Novaks get involved.

Cas moaned slightly, his head turning in the overly soft pillow from the hospital. It was a different kind of hospital, medical instead of mental, but the boys still didn't like seeing him there.

"Do you have any idea what the spear of destiny is?" Meg asked, her voice somewhat hoarse. She was still a nurse, at least technically, so she was the only nurse that had access to the dying angel.

"It's powerful." Dean sarcastically rolled his eyes, "And it's something that the enemy wants. Hell, maybe it's for hitting a God piñata!"

"It's the spear that pierced the side of Christ." Meg explained, although they already knew the lore. "It damaged one of the most powerful beings and because His blood is on it, it has become the most deadly weapon. It can kill anything. Luckily for us it wasn't stabbed into anything too vital."

She glanced down Cas, her clipboard in hand.

"What can we do?" Sam asked, reaching forward as if to touch his friend.

"I can take care of the vessel." Meg shrugged, "That's basically like treating a normal wound. The problem is going to be Cas itself. I, well, no demon, knows had to heal a wounded angel. The only thing that can do that is another angel."

The Winchesters stared at each other trying to figure out if the other one knew anything.

Dean finally snapped out of it, turning back to Meg, "We don't know any other angels. All the ones we know of are dead."

Sam thought a little bit longer before speaking, "Wait, what about Chuck?"

"Chuck's a prophet, not an angel." Dean pursed his lips and shook his head.

Sam rolled his eyes as if the answer was obvious, "Exactly. He's a prophet and prophets are protected by archangels."

"So you're suggesting that we attack Chuck and somehow trap an archangel before it kills us?" Dean sputtered, most of his emphasis on the word kill.

"Do you have any better ideas?"

"No! But that one sucks!"

Meg did that thing with her face where she tried to fake a smile but it just turned into crinkled lines, "It's good you have a plan, boys, but what are you going to do with Cas? You can't bring an archangel into the hospital."

"You mean we have to take him with us?" Dean exclaimed, almost sounding disgusted.

"I can take care of the vessel, that's all. You'll have to take Cas some other way."

Sam shook his head, his hair shuddering around his ears, "Well, Dean and I, we're both vessels. Can't he just hop inside one of us?"

"I'm not going to have some crazy angel bouncing around in me." Dean glared at him, "I'm not letting any angel inside me, but especially not Cas! He'll mess with all of my stuff."

"Yeah, he'll probably erase that porn collection you have in the front of your mind."

Dean swallowed a bit too hard.

Meg glared at them both, certain they weren't serious and hoping they'd get that way, "You can't volunteer to be a vessel, not like that. You have to be the right fit."

"Lucifer did it. Nick wasn't his real target, I was." Sam thought out loud.

"He burned through the guy." Dean punched the words out.

"Yeah, he was in him for too long. This would be quick."

Meg bit her lip looking from one Winchester to the other, "I guess it could work, but you're going to have to let him know and I'm not sure how you're going to get through to him."

She left them alone with the squirming vessel. The wounds had been stitched up as best as they could and he was hooked up to an IV drip. Even then he looked pale and feverish muttering words in a forgotten language, or maybe a made up one, under his breath.

The two boys knelt beside the bed, their hands clasped before them.

"Are you sure about this?" Dean asked.

"No." Sam admitted, "But we don't have much of a choice."

They lowered their heads and closed their eyes, perfect replicas of good Christian boys. They started to pray, Dean silently and Sam out loud.

"Uh, Cas, I don't know if you can hear me, but, uh, we have an idea to get you fixed up. Please, I want to do this. I give myself, my whole body, for you. I will be your vessel. So please, answer me if you can."

At first there was nothing, and then there was a bright light coming from Jimmy's lips. All of the wounds that had been so well cared for began to glow as well.

Sam swallowed nervously and put a hand out, grasping Cas's wrist, the hospital band rigid under his rough palm. He'd seen an angel get passed from one vessel to another before, so he brought his face close to Jimmy's. For a moment he thought of demons and how they'd kiss to seal a deal, but he didn't attempt that. He didn't want to kiss Cas and Claire hadn't kissed her father when the angel passed between them.

"Please Cas." He repeated, "I'm here. I want to be your vessel."

The light faded away. Cas wasn't coming through.

Sam looked over at his brother, confused, "What was that?"

Meg burst into the room, her face flushed. She looked frustrated and a bit furious. She looked at the two kneeling men.

"I couldn't stop them." She sighed, exasperated, "They called the next of kin."

"The next of kin?" Dean repeated, the words familiar in his mind.

Amelia stood in the doorway, the worry in her eyes like spotlights. She said nothing, just stared into the room, at the body of her wounded husband as it writhed weakly in the bed.

Claire wasn't as hesitant. She ran into the room, past Meg and the Winchester's and clasped her father's hand in hers. She was crying, close to hysterics. It had to be hard, knowing that you could never see your father again and then hearing that he's close to death.

The Winchester's looked at one another, the idea running through both of their minds at the same time. Claire. She was Castiel's other vessel.

Jimmy began to glow again, Cas reaching out to Claire. Terrified, she stepped back, almost running into Sam who put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. She was seventeen now, almost an adult. She'd have to make her own decisions.

"Hey." Sam whispered in her ear. She didn't move. "You're dad's going to be okay, he is, but only if you help him. He's been injured but the staff here has taken good care of him. Cas is still inside of him and he is dying. If he doesn't get out of your dad, they will both die. We have an idea to get him healed up, but we're going to need your help."

Claire turned, finally, taking her eyes off of her father, "What do I need to do?"

"We need you to be the vessel." Dean interrupted.

Claire turned back to her father. On the opposite side of the bed, Amelia stood, her hands over her mouth and tears streaming down her face, the same amount of panic for her husband as there was for her daughter.

"Okay." Claire murmured, giving her consent.

Her mother shook her head, appalled.

Jimmy's eyes opened and Cas burst out of them. The IV on its stand shuddered as if in a great wind and Dean clenched his eyes even tighter.

Jimmy gasped, his life support monitor beeping furiously. He sputtered and gasped clutching at his wounds. Finally his eyes fell onto the boys.

"Dean?" he asked, his voice much more nasal and high pitched than the angel's had been. "Sam? What's happening? Why am I here?"

Cas seemed loopy and confused in Claire's body, never mind weak, they lay at the side of the bed, draped over the edge.

"Uh, sorry. You were stabbed and Cas couldn't heal you up. Cas?" Dean hurriedly blurted.

Claire's face turned to look at Dean but her fear and worry had been replaced by something between pain, bliss, and catatonic.

"Dean." Claire's mouth said, but her voice had changed. It was much raspier and much weaker. Then the both collapsed, unconscious.

 

If there was one thing that Chuck really couldn't stand above all else, it was when the Winchesters would break into his house. At least he was there this time.

"Seriously," he asked, glaring at them, not even asking why Dean was carrying an unconscious teenager over his shoulder, "have you never heard of a knocking?"

"We assumed you'd let us in." Dean smiled sarcastically, "And that you wouldn't let us in had we knocked.

He set the girl on the couch. She seemed to be suffering, her pale face streaming sweat.

"Um, who is she? I mean, I don't mind it's just, I'd like to know who you're bringing into my house and she seems to be really sick." Chuck started talking overly fast and without breath, something he always did when he was nervous or around the brothers.

Sam put his hand on Chuck's shoulder, trying to right him. Chuck immediately shut up. "That's Cas, in a different vessel. He needs your help."

Chuck looked from Cas back to Sam, the information not really clicking, although he must have seen this coming. "Uh, how? I don't know anything about helping angels!"

He may not have, but Dean did. He grabbed the flask from his pocket, and poured a circle of it around the bewildered writer. After that he went to the computer, where the next few pages of prophecy lay, waiting to be continued. Dean read about a sentence of it before ripping the plug out of the computer. It didn't power down dramatically as he had hoped, it being a laptop. So he pushed his finger onto the button and rolled his eyes, waiting for it to die and lose the last couple of pages.

Chuck stared at him, but didn't move from the circle. There seemed to be a breeze stirring, his robes slightly moving in it, "What are you doing?"

Dean walked out into the main room, where Chuck, Cas, and Sam waited, the computer in his hands. "This is the only copy of the prophecy, right?"

"Uh, yeah." Chuck's dark eyes widened as his eyebrows raised, "Why? What are you going to do with it?"

Dean raised it over his head angrily, about the throw it to the ground and destroy the machine as well as all of the content inside. He'd probably stomp on all of the pieces too, just to make sure.

He didn't have to though as the wind picked up and there was a bright glow.

The boys backed up, covering their eyes as the angel appeared. Sam flicked out his lighter, ready to light the oil and stop the archangel from doing anything to them, if he had enough time.

Sam blinked. He wasn't dead, but he was closed to it. He didn't even have a chance to light the oil but it felt like there was a snake around him, squeezing the life out of him. He gritted his teeth and tried to understand what was happening. When Cas had met the archangel, Raphael, it had ripped him to pieces. He didn't know what was happening.

Suddenly the feeling was gone and he saw a small naked man run over to Dean and perform the same strange strangling ritual.

"Cupid?" Sam gasped.

The chubby cherub turned, his red cheeks blushing, as he crushed Dean, "Yes! And it's been a long time! How are you?"

"Uh, what is this?" Chuck asked, pointing.

"That's Cupid." Sam explained, "The cherub. But why you? Isn't Chuck supposed to be protected by a- an archangel?"

Cupid finally released Dean, who sputtered, cursed, and gasped for the air that had been denied to him, "Well, yeah, but it seemed there weren't a lot of them left. You two helped with that. I was basically the strongest warrior available."

The brothers stared, their mouths hanging in shock.

"What?"Cupid shrugged, bounding towards Chuck to do more damage than the boys ever would have, "It's not like you were actually going to hurt Chuck here."

Chuck's eyes looked like they would burst from his head.

"Well, do you have any powers?" Dean choked out, "Cas is dying here!"

Rolling his eyes, Cupid ended his hug with Chuck prematurely, much to Chuck's rejoicing. The writer rushed out of the room, his robe billowing behind him.

"I can do a little bit of healing." Cupid sighed, "I can see that's what you want. I can heal the wounds but I can't really do anything about his mind. I'm not that strong."

Dean's eyes widened as his own smiling surprised him. "You can? Great!"

"I really shouldn't. " Cupid sighed again, "It's a good thing I like you."

The writer came back into the room, a glass with ice in one hand and a bottle of Jack's in the other. He was drinking from the bottle, forgetting about the glass entirely, the whole situation a bit over his head. Maybe he hadn't prophesied this part yet.

The chubby naked man reached out to Claire's neck, murmuring something in a dead language under his breath. Cas flinched at the contact and when the incantation was completed there was a slight seizure, the neck arching uncomfortably. The cherub then moved to the wound to the gut. This one was deeper and much worse, so he had to chant the incantation a few times before Cas reacted the same way as he had to his throat.

"Next time" Cupid stated, pulling away from the unconscious angel, "only attack if you really mean it."

With that he was gone.

Cas coughed and groaned in Claire's body, his eyes opening slowly. A grin spread over both of the Winchester's faces.

"Sam." Cas croaked, "Dean."

"Welcome back." Sam said.

He tried to stand but wasn't strong enough yet, so he fell back into the chair. He couldn't stop staring at Claire's body. Eventually he took hold of the small, underage breasts, not sure as to what they were, and stared at Dean.

"What are these? What happened to me?" he demanded.

The Winchester's held back on their laughter while the intoxicated Chuck laughed his nervous, "hehe" laugh.

"You're in Claire Novak." Dean explained, trying to keep his laughter in check, "You shouldn't be touching her stuff."

Cas looked down the body again, "Oh."

They helped him up and carried him out to the Impala, leaving Chuck behind in his nerve induced stupor.

The entire ride back to the hospital, only a few states over, Cas slept. Claire really did look like an angel.


End file.
